Letter: Improve the enforcement of our laws to heal our divided community

Attached you will find two pictures of a vagrant that is
well known to the St Augustine Police Department. She’s frequently warned and
arrested, she’s been repeatedly treated by first responders and transported to Flagler
Hospital.

Currently, she is very sick. She talks to people downtown
about her health issues and has recently been released from the hospital. She has become a danger to herself and
others. Every place she sat or touched in the city has great potential harm to
visitors, residents and workers.

Evidently, she changed out of her soiled clothes at the
Marina bathroom. I called solid waste to warn them about what they might find
and to make sure the city employees are prepared to deal with this infected
material.

By the way, the voice mail message says they will return the
call “at their earliest convenience”. If you are concerned about your
customer service image, you might want to change that recording to say, “as
soon as is possible”.

I made a call to St Augustine Police Department and asked
them to do a “welfare check” on her and return my call with her
status. Officer Brittney Garmon returned
my call and said that the vagrant woman was “all cleaned up” now. We
had a long talk about options dealing with her, but, sadly, there was not much
Officer Garmon could do besides referring my concerns to the newly appointed
officers assigned to deal with homeless persons.

Everyone is beyond frustrated with what’s going on with
vagrants in the city. Most of the “campers” in the City are vagrants,
and that’s the group of people I’d like to discuss. It appears that this issue
must be dealt with at the state level to enact laws that get dangerous people
off our streets and stop the hemorrhaging of resources by police, first
responders, and our local hospitals.

I was shocked and disappointed to see that Evelyn Hammock
was arrested on 2/14/19 for trespassing. To help homeless people, Evelyn has
paid for bus tickets, paid for rooms, and paid for food out of her own pocket. Evelyn calls almost every night to get people
off the streets and into St Francis House. She does all of this on her own
time. It’s too bad that the St Augustine Police Department didn’t avail
themselves of the opportunity to work with Evelyn instead of against her.

Her arrest has badly, maybe irreversibly, damaged relations
between the St Augustine Police Department and its residents. I won’t try the
case here, but this was a terrible decision.
The shockwaves will have a lasting impact.

I’d also like to point out that I have read a few inappropriate
social media posts made by St Augustine Police officers of late. Everyone is
entitled to their own opinion and their right to free speech, but those who
wear the uniform are in a unique position of power and authority over citizens.
People can take aggressive posts or name calling as an implied threat. If the police department does not have a
policy on social media, they should immediately enact one — if they do, they
should enforce it.

I’ve personally blocked a few of your officers and I’m very “pro”
law enforcement with many active and retired police officers that I consider
friends.
Please consider what you
can do to improve the enforcement of our laws and heal our very divided
community before it gets worse.